Congress reduced to 44 MLAs, how is it their victory: BJP

New Delhi, Aug 9 (IANS) Union Minister and BJP leader Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that there was no reason for the Congress to be happy after Ahmed Patel’s victory in Gujarat as they were reduced to 44 MLAs from 57 and asked the party to “introspect”.

“How can you call this their win. They have been reduced to 44 from 57. The Election Commission using a criterion invalidated two votes, or else they would have lost,” said Goyal.

“The same criterion should have been applied on other two MLAs (on which the BJP had raised objections later) as well,” added Goyal.

He also said: “The reality is they have been reduced to 44. They should introspect on this. Our both the candidates won very comfortably. This is not our defeat.”

“They have lost popularity among the MLAs. They should not feel that this is their victory. This result will not have any impact on Gujarat assembly elections. BJP will get more than 150 seats, this is very clear,” Goyal further added.

Congress candidate Ahmed Patel on Wednesday scraped through to notch a victory in a bitterly-contested Rajya Sabha election against all out efforts of the BJP to check his attempt to seek a fifth term.